Features

UNPARALLELED GRAND PIANO SOUND

Audio & Video

Features

UNPARALLELED GRAND PIANO SOUND

Two of the world's finest grands....

Left: Yamaha CFX, Right: Bösendorfer Imperial

The CFX, Yamaha’s finest 9-foot concert grand selected and played by the winner of the 2010 International Chopin Piano Competition and the Imperial from Bösendorfer, a brand held in high esteem by pianists throughout its long history. These renowned pianos are characterized by distinctive traits such as power, versatility, subtlety, lightness and mellowness.

Both of these superb pianos' voices are featured in the Clavinova. Tuned to perfection by a highly-experienced piano technician with the sound from each key sampled individually, Clavinova truly captures the unique tonal character of each of these outstanding instruments.

With Clavinova, you can enjoy the exquisite beauty of the sought-after tone that the Yamaha CFX and Bösendorfer Imperial deliver.

Real Grand Expression: sound, touch and pedals, all perfectly integrated to give you the sensation of playing a grand piano.

Real Grand Expression; is a phrase that defines the expressive capability of Clavinova. It is the key components of the sound, the touch and the pedals, together with the application of technology developed through a history of acoustic piano manufacturing. With Real Grand Expression, these elements are combined perfectly into a single instrument, creating the exact sound you want through the touch of the keys and the feel of the pedals. When you play a Clavinova, you feel like you are playing a grand piano.

The diagram shows how sound resonates in a grand piano and VRM emulates this resonance

In a grand piano, sound resonates throughout the body of the instrument, producing a rich reverberation that envelops the listener in sound.

This phenomenon is reproduced perfectly in the Clavinova through Virtual Resonance Modelling (VRM), which calculates the various states of the strings for each of the 88 notes on the keyboard from one instant to next. This allows for the vivid, richly-varied expression that reflects the limitless number of factors inherent in playing the piano such as which keys are pressed, the strength with which the keys are played and pedal timing.

Smooth tonal transitions, perfectly matched to the player's touch

Variations of sound according to touch

A pianist changes the volume and dynamics of the sound by varying the pressure applied to the keys. A Clavinova responds perfectly to give the player an outstanding level of performance control. By using long, carefully-sampled recordings of notes on a piano and unique Yamaha technologies to achieve smooth tonal transitions, rich, sonic detail is delivered in response to the touch of the player.

From staccato to legato, superbly expressive sound that responds to the player's touch

Featuring Yamaha's Smooth Release technology, Clavinova recreates the crisp tone heard when playing staccato as well as the lingering sound produced by releasing the keys slowly.

Key-off samples

The moment a pianist’s fingers are lifted from the keys of a grand piano, subtle changes occur in the instrument’s tone as the damper is lowered onto the strings to mute the sound. Key-off samples feature actual recordings of these changes, offering a faithful reproduction of the most subtle nuances in the piano’s tone, creating a more realistic overall sound.

256-note polyphony

Powerful polyphony ensures that more complex passages of music can be played without notes cutting off.

SUPERB PLAYABILITY AND FEEL

Natural Wood X (NWX) keyboard

Natural Wood X (NWX) keyboards are created using Yamaha's unrivalled expertise of wood acquired through more than a century of crafting fine pianos. Just as with grand pianos, the material used for NWX keyboards is cut from wood that has been carefully dried specifically for use in making musical instruments.
The NWX keyboards also feature features an escapement mechanism that reproduces the feel of an acoustic piano as it goes through the let-off of the jack and the fall of the hammer when a key is played very softly.

Key counterweights

Counterweights are embedded in the keys of a grand piano to balance the weight of the hammers and offer more precise control when playing delicately at low volumes. The Clavinova features carefully-adjusted counterweights for improved playability when playing pianissimo and better key return in rapid passages. The keyboard of the Clavinova has been fine-tuned to offer optimal balance, emphasizing its superb playability and grand piano response.

88-key Linear Graded Hammer action

Grand piano hammers

This action faithfully reproduces the subtle differences in the weight and return of every key. No two keys are exactly alike which gives the player the best possible feel and response from the instrument.

Synthetic Ivory keytops

Synthetic Ivory keytops reproduce the tactile surface of the Ivory keyboards once used in acoustic pianos. It features highly absorbent material that prevents fingers from slipping even after hours of performing, while retaining the ideal texture and feel.

THE MECHANICS OF SUPERIOR SOUND

Full-bodied tone and resonance

The sound of a Clavinova is calibrated in fine detail, with speaker positioning and body materials checked to ensure that the entire instrument resonates optimally. To create a sound field that is very close to that of a grand piano, the Clavinova features tone escape ports in several locations throughout the body that allow the sound from the speakers to be projected to the listener without being trapped inside the instrument.

3-way speakers

Acoustic Optimizer

The body of the Clavinova contains Acoustic Optimizers that regulate the flow of sound and control tone. A new technology developed from Yamaha's intimate knowledge of the acoustic properties of musical instruments, Acoustic Optimizers deliver a natural, smooth sound across the entire keyboard.

OTHER FEATURES

Easy-to-use interface

An easy-to-read LCD and intuitive layout enable simple operation of your Clavinova, giving you more time to focus on playing.

Get hundreds of Classical lesson songs for free with NoteStar!

Inside the CLP-585 are 303 lesson songs for building piano technique from popular piano methods like Hanon, Bayer, Czerny and Burgmüller. Connect an iPad using the NoteStar app to view the printed score and even turn pages using the pedals. The entire collection of digital sheet music lesson songs is a free download exclusively for CLP-500 series owners. The regular download price of this library is over $60.

Play along with a variety of rhythms

Why use a metronome when CLP rhythms give you a personal percussionist? Enjoy performing with rhythms such as jazz, pop, latin and more.

GP Response Damper Pedal: an authentic grand piano pedal feel

The GP Response Damper Pedal offers a grand piano-style resistance curve, starting out light to the touch and growing heavier as the pedal is depressed further. This allows players to become accustomed to the nuances of delicate pedalling.

With the adjustment range and pressure feel of a grand piano half pedal, delicate tonal control is possible

Multi-track song recording

The recording function featured in Clavinova digital pianos allows you to record your performances with a single touch, which is useful when you want to review or archive your playing. You can record up to 16 tracks for simultaneous playback, allowing you to create your own songs using different sounds, or record each hand separately.

* Recordings are made in MIDI format, and can also be recorded to USB flash memory. Compatible software is required for playback of recorded data on a computer.

USB Audio Recorder

Record performances to USB flash memory as audio files (WAV format) you can save and play back on a computer or portable audio device, share with friends or use to create a CD.

A comprehensive range of keyboard Voices

In addition to pianos, the Clavinova CLP Series boasts an impressive library of instrument Voices including electric pianos, strings and organs. Enjoy the freedom to choose the ideal Voice for the genre of music you want to play or record.

New reverb that offers dynamic ambience and spatial effects

A new reverb system allows you to experience the sensation of playing in a large concert hall, cathedral or other venue, adding depth and atmosphere to the sound. Now you can experience concert hall ambience and spaciousness in the privacy of your own home.

Intelligent Acoustic Control (IAC)

The ability to adjust performance volume is extremely useful at home where players may not always be able to play at high volume levels. At low volumes, bass and treble used to be difficult to, hear, however, Clavinova is equipped with Intelligent Acoustic Control (IAC), which adjusts the sound automatically, allowing players to enjoy balanced sound at any volume level.

Stereophonic Optimizer: a new kind of headphone experience

Unique to Yamaha, the Stereophonic Optimizer adjusts the spacing of the sound and the separation from the piano when listening via the headphones, resulting in a spacious sound image that will inspire you to play for hours at a time.

Powerful connectivity

A range of Apps to expand your musical horizons

If you use an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, Yamaha Apps can make playing more creative, enjoyable and fun.

The clp 585 has excellent sound quality. However, the designers have taken a step backward with the new control panel. I use clavinovas for church services. This requires the ability to quickly change settings, sounds, tempo, etc quickly in between songs. The new control panel simply has too few buttons to allow someone to quickly get ready for the next song in a set. With older models, I could push the power button, and then simultaneously push 2 voice buttons and the piano was ready to go. Because they drastically reduced the number of buttons on the control panel, you now have to navigate through many different menus requiring multiple button pushes. Whereas before I would be ready in 2 button pushes, it now takes around 10. To put that in perspective, the player now has to spend 5 times the amount of programming effort in order to get ready to play a song. In such settings where the player needs to change sounds, metronome, brightness, etc in a matter of seconds, this is not the piano to do it. It requires a minute or two which in a congregational setting, makes for a very ackward silence.